Enthralled: Tainted Book Four

11. Bring Her Home

Kerry

I hurried Jax and Gigi along the next morning, eager to get to St. Pat's since Josef's people were gonna open the portal at 10 a.m., and I didn't want to be late for several reasons. One, Lilas missed her mom. Two, John had what I asked him to fetch for me. Three, I had other things to do.

"I shoulda sent you two along with the others," I griped as they finally piled into the SUV, where me and Lilas were already waiting.

Hank and Gina left at dawn, wanting to finish clearing Bennie's house as soon as possible. Mr. Snyder, Rome, and Mira decided they'd go along, too - Mr. Snyder because of some of the artifacts Gina told him about last night and Rome and Mira for something to do while we waited for a report from Spin's team.

"Oh, hush, grumpy." Gigi buckled in next to Lilas in the back while Jax took shotgun next to me. "You should have arranged to do this after lunch. Getting up so early has made you cranky."

"As usual," Jax chimed in as I started the engine and put the vehicle in gear. "None of the were creatures wanted to come?"

"No. Poppy wants to give it one more day to see if Imogene wakes up. Otherwise, Josef offered to have a Messenger 'port them as close to home as possible while she was unconscious." I didn't have to say that Elijah wasn't gonna leave his twin's side. "As for the others, Angelo offered to take Kon and Grey to see some of the sights to keep them busy until their meeting with Josef this afternoon."

"Keep them busy?" Gigi snorted. "More like, keep everyone from wanting to kill Kon!"

Even Lilas snickered at that.

The druk was going to Cray-Cray Town and taking everyone there with him. He kept saying he smelled his mate, but every time he followed her scent trail, it led to a dead end or just disappeared.

"I think we all know she's someone who can 'port," Jax pointed out. "Do you think she's teasing him, like Kon believes? Or do you think she's unaware that he's even trying to find her?"

"Unaware," Gigi, Lilas, and I all said at the same time, and the girls giggled as I went on, "It ain't usual for a neph to have a were mate. Even if she feels the mate bond forming, she prolly don't understand what it is."

"Shouldn't it be drawing her to him, though?" Gigi asked. "Even not knowing what it is, she should feel a pull to find him, too, right?"

"Yeah, she has to," Jax agreed, "but she could be going out on missions or has a job that she needs to travel for or family issues or who knows what?"

"But the Council issued a lockdown."

"Yeah, and look how it's affecting us!" he laughed. "Probably about as much as it is her!"

As they chatted about it, I focused on driving. If nothing else, New York City traffic kept my brain occupied. My mouth, too, usually, but Lilas was with us. Couldn't turn the air blue with little ears around.

We made it with me forgetting that just once, and found Josef's contact was waiting for us in the outpost's parking garage hidden underneath the block next to St. Pat's. A tall Latina girl with long, black, curly hair and dark brown eyes, she had the scent of a Messenger. She wore ripped jeans and a leather jacket over a short black top that showed off her cut abs, although I was more interested in the Glock holstered on her black leather belt.

"Hi! My name's Lanie Maria Lopez Molina." With a smile, she held out her hand, which Jax shook, then Gigi, before crouching down next to Lilas. "And you must be the one needing a ride home."

"Yeth! Is that a real gun?"

"It is. As a Messenger, I can travel far and wide, and the Huskarls sometimes need me to go into dangerous places. Since I'm just a Fourth, I don't have a lot of power, so I bring this with me just in case I need a little help."